GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- Burton homeowners are moving up on the list of communities with the highest tax rates in the county after voters added 6.5 mills to their burden in the Nov. 5 election.

A Flint Journal analysis of election and equalization records shows the new police millage will take the combined tax rate in some parts of Burton higher than the tax rates in some of the most sought-after zip codes in the county, including the Fenton and Grand Blanc areas.

"It's not a small number," Burton City Council President Tom Matinbiancio said of the new police millage. "I knew (the alternative if the millage) failed: You could have just handed the keys (of the city) over to Gov. Snyder, and I was not so sure I wanted to go that route."

Flint, Burton and Montrose residents will have some of the highest millage rates in Genesee County when new taxes go into effect next year. (MLive.com file photos)

Burton voters approved the 20-year property tax for police services by a margin of 1,664-1,333, securing the city's finances and strengthening public safety, according to advocates.

Homeowners will start to feel the cost of the higher tax rate starting with summer 2014 tax bills that will jump about 15 percent higher overnight assuming property values remain the same.

The Election Day fallout is much less dramatic elsewhere as voters countywide approved only a 0.04-mill tax for Michigan State University Extension services and a replacement bond proposition for Mott Community College.

Several existing school millages, building and bonding proposals were renewed as well, keeping those taxes the same.

Despite adding just a tiny fraction of a mill to their overall local tax rate on Nov. 5, Flint property owners who also live in the Carman Ainsworth School District will still pay the highest tax rate of any area not included in a downtown development authority, the MLive-Flint Journal comparison shows.

Of the 10 taxing districts with the highest total millages in the county, six are in the city of Flint.

"You can't continue to tax people at such a high rate," said City Councilman Josh Freeman. "You can raise your tax rate (so high) that you (tax) yourself right out of residents."

Montrose also ranks high on the list, joined in the top by the downtown district of Mt. Morris and two Burton communities.

The lowest tax rate in the county -- before and after the election -- is for property in the Byron School District in Argentine Township, which levies a combined 21.2 mills compared to 50.36 for property in the Carman Ainsworth School District in Flint.

That big difference in tax rate can mean thousands of additional dollars in tax expenses every year -- depending on the taxable value of a home -- even though many property owners aren't aware of their rate.

The owner of a home with a $50,000 taxable value in the Byron School District in Argentine Township, for example, pays less than one-half the taxes -- about $1,500 less each year -- than a Flint School District home owner in Flint with a property of identical value.

Diane Clift, a Grand Blanc Township resident and member of the county Republican Party Executive Committee, said too few property owners are paying attention to their tax rates.

"Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like people are as interested as they should be," Clift said. "It's not on the radar because people are busy, and we don't have that focus like we used to."

Argentine Township Supervisor Bob Cole, whose grandchildren, children and himself have lived in that same taxing district and attended Byron schools, said property owners here get good value for their tax dollar.

"It's like I tell people, we are blessed to be Argentinians," said Cole, who nonetheless said the county apportionment report and millage rates have to be seen in a broader context because the figures don't track special assessments, which still cost property owners.

Randall Thompson, chairman of the county Republican Party, said citizens have to decide whether taxes and assessments are too high but said the issue of taxes remains "a prime example of what gets people involved in politics."

"I think people vote with their feet (if taxes are too high)," Thompson said. "If people feel taxes are too high and services are not good enough, they are going to move."

In Burton, Martinbianco and others didn't believe the status qou was an option because the city's property tax base has been shrinking as property values have dropped.

That created the need to raise the millage rate.

"I don't think anybody wanted to do this, but there weren't a lot of options" said Herm Clark, who has lived in the city nearly 40 years and was a member of Citizens For A Safe Burton, the committee that worked on discussing the millage and what the new tax would pay for.

"This wasn't an easy call (but as a homeowner) you have an investment to protect," Clark said. "If you don't have a safe community then nothing else good is going to happen."

Higher property tax rates may also be more tolerable after years of losses in property values, he said -- losses that have made for lower overall tax bills for many in recent years.